Society has established a set of rules or norms that dictate the way we live and act. Every person must abide to these rules and obey or they will be punished. These ideas range from killing another person to the role of a housewife. Austen makes her own rules for a woman: “A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved” (Austen, 29). These rules she create go hand in hand with the ones she makes men follow. Austen does not leave much room for interpretation and is clear when stating what every person should do.
Since the first sentence in the book Austen is already telling the reader what to do: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." (Austen, 1). This statement makes it very clear that if you have a good fortune you must what a wife. The novel is based on this and other facts that make it clear that people are greedy and have money as their priority. Austen is a forceful writer that represents an imposing novel. When you read it you feel as if the author were giving out orders and you had to follow them.
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